It Really Is Taxes, Stoopid

"Offering lower taxes is the key to destroying the Brown edifice. So crushing was the impact of these tax proposals that they did not even produce the expected Labour shrieks of "U-turn": the good old ship "Lurch-to-the-Right" never came out of port at all...

[But] just as Mr Brown has destroyed for ever his chance to accuse the Tories of "playing the race card" on immigration by using the phrase "British jobs for British workers", he will undermine his argument that tax cuts must always mean cuts in public spending if he adopts them himself.

So if Labour tries to attack the tax breaks, Mr Cameron benefits. And if it imitates them, he benefits."

Even better, we all benefit too.

We have surely reached that fabled tipping point. Your average punter really has paid enough for our bloated underperforming public services. Bottler's taxes have put a major squeeze on British wallets (eg see here), yet schools are no better, violent crime is rampant, and many NHS hospitals are still a third world morass of squalor and disease (further update on Mrs T's father's dismal "patient journey" coming soon).

Tomorrow we get the Comprehensive Spending Review and the Pre-Budget Report, both rushed forward by weeks to buy the election. Yet more of our dosh is to be showered on schools 'n' hospitals. But spending more money is easy- does anyone still believe it makes any tangible difference to the services we receive?

Worse, these higher spending plans will reportedly be funded by reining back central government grants to local authorities. Which means that Council Taxes will have to rise even more.

Now, polls show that the Death Tax is only our second least popular tax. The most unpopular, by a mile, is Council Tax. So if Bottler rushes into match the Tories on Death, he'll almost certainly stuff himself on Council Tax.

It's delicious.

PS I've grabbed the Marr interview and will be posting some suitably edited highlights on YouTube. While reviewing it in slow motion without sound, I was struck by the eery similarity between Bottler's own insincerity, cowardice, and jowls, and those of Final-Days-In-The-Bunker Nixon. Does anyone know where I can find a rippable vid of the Whitewash statement? I'm keen to try some cross cutting.

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BOM the book now available

Drawing on six years of blogging government waste, this book shows how we spend far more than we need on our public services. It sets out the facts and explores the underlying issues. Just why does government spend so much and deliver such second rate service? Why do we put up with it? And what are the alternatives?

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Despite all the talk of cuts, government still consumes nearly half our national income. Yet many tens of billions of its spending is wasted, with taxpayers made to pick up the tab for a depressing array of overpriced sub-standard services. This is money we can no longer afford, and our National Debt is already at danger level.

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